


Another Year Older

by dizzy



Category: StarKid Productions RPF
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-05
Updated: 2014-12-05
Packaged: 2018-02-28 05:18:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2720120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/pseuds/dizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darren always calls her on her birthday. (Darren/Julia friendship fic, potentially a prelude to more if you really want to read it like that.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Year Older

Once a year, Julia gets a phone call. 

It's ironic that it always happens on her birthday, since she thinks the entire time they were together Darren remembered her birthday maybe once the entire time they were together and together-but-not. 

They're good conversations, though. It feels good to know that someone that once meant so much to her still remembers, that it meant that much to him, too. Darren has a lot going on in his life right now and maybe she's not where she hoped she'd be but she doesn't have that many regrets, either. It feels good to be trusted with the things that he doesn't tell that many other people, even if it's months after the fact. 

It's a good counterpoint to the stories she hears about him from other mutual friends, the posts on private facebook accounts and gossip sites on the internet. The calls usually last a couple of hours, at least. Sometimes late, sometimes early. His schedule is unpredictable but she always answers. She's never told anyone else but if the phone rings in the middle of dinner and she leaves to answer it, they just all sort of know. 

She tried calling him on his birthday once, the first year he was on tv. He didn't answer, but texted her back. He was in the middle of filming and apologized profusely. She didn't try to call again after that. 

This year feels different. This year _is_ different, if no other reason than because she's seen him only a couple months before - and not like the normal situations they're together in, surrounded by friends. It started that way but instead of polite avoidance he'd cornered her a few minutes in and pulled her in for a great big hug that after a few too many seconds felt like he was clinging. 

"Hey," she'd whispered fiercely, clinging back the way it felt like he'd needed. Her fingers had slid up to stroke his hair like she always used to. His shoulders had shaken a little, like maybe he was laughing, and he'd turned his face into her neck and kissed it sweetly. It was strange, an odd action for an odd moment, but he'd been smiling when he pulled away. 

They sat beside each other at dinner that night, laughed and joked in a way they hadn't in years. Then he'd been gone again and she'd thought that was that until she got a text message a week later. 

Now they've been talking on and off for weeks. Nothing big, just conversation on a level of casual they haven't managed in a long time. It's... nice. 

It also leaves her anticipating the phone call even more than she normally does.... which makes it all the more frustrating when it's pushing ten pm and the phone hasn't rang, at least not with the person she wants to hear from on the other end of the line. 

It's a few minutes shy of eleven when she gets a text message. Lauren bites her lip beside her, looking up from where she's been glued to her own phone. Julia assumed it was the guy she's been seeing lately, but at that hint of mischief suspicions are born. 

The text is from Darren and it says a few things, the first of which is _sorry_ and the second of which is _really sorry!!_ and the third of which is _open the door?_

"I hate you," she says to Lauren, who is openly laughing by now. 

"Sorry," Lauren says. "He wanted to surprise you. He was supposed to make it for the party earlier but his flight got delayed." 

As if echoing her, when Julia opens the door Darren makes jazz hands framing his face and says, "Surprise." 

"I hate you," Julia says to him, just like she had Lauren, but she lets him wrap his arms round her and lift her feet off of the ground. 

He pulls back, eyes shining and happy, and she can't fight the bubbling joy inside of her even though she knows that Darren is someone with the potential to cause her so much turmoil. She just can't - she can't look at him and not feel fondness and love. She's tried, and she can't. 

"Happy birthday," he says, and she leads him inside.


End file.
